Okay, so a one-and-a-half game lead in the AL Central might not constitute “awesome”, but watching Travis Hafner crush a ball into right field to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays and give the Tribe their second walk-off grand slam victory of the season felt that way. Blogs great and small have been asking that “are the Cleveland Indians an actual baseball team” question since the first week of the season and chances are they’ll be asking it well into September. If the Indians are three outs away from winning game four of the World Series to sweep the Phillies (or the Pirates, or whoever) the announcers will be on their Twitters, asking followers if now is the time to consider Cleveland a contender.

IT IS TIME TO DO THAT NOW. It is five past Tribe Time.

I’ve been watching this video over and over for the last half hour, so I thought I’d put it up on my website, where I could at least get a little traffic, and maybe a disgruntled Toronto fan stopping by to point out how the Jays play in the AL East and the Tribe plays in a ball pit with some kids dressed like the Twins. That’s true. It’s also true that we’ve got three months left in the season, and Cleveland could still finish 14 games behind the Tigers. It’s true that Cleveland is a terrible town full of terrible sports fans who still aren’t supporting their team and won’t buy an Indians shirt until they’re in the ALDS, but I love them all, dammit, and I am totally and completely expecting four-to-five more walk-off grand slams before the season is over.

Join The Discussion

It’s too bad Cleveland used up all their underdog good will once they kept running their “we’re so over Lebron, look! LOOK!” bullshit into the ground.

07.08.11 at 1:50 pm

Thatsamare

The Jays will rise again, once the playoffs format increases the amount of teams that enter the playoffs, or, the Jays move to the NL East.

07.08.11 at 2:00 pm

La Schmoove

The movie “Major League” saw this coming years ago.

07.08.11 at 2:01 pm

MotownCokeHabit

The Tribe are surprisingly good so far, aren’t they? We’ll see how long that holds up. I’ve never heard of a Dearborn Steamer…

07.08.11 at 2:53 pm

poonTASTIC

there still shitty

07.08.11 at 2:54 pm

jijjy

The fuck is your problem with Cleveland? 455 sellouts in a row. Jump off our bandwagon, pole smoker. We don’t need you.

07.08.11 at 3:03 pm

Brandon

@jijjy – Wait, which person are you talking to? You realize the little picture to my left is me in an Indians hat posting with Slider from like two years ago, right

07.08.11 at 4:19 pm

Danny

We’re a terrible town in many aspects, but I don’t think we’re terrible sports fans. Viewership is at an all time high on STO and the attendance keeps going up slowly. These are tough times right now financially for a lot of people in Cleveland.

Besides there has been a major population decrease since we were sweet in the 90’s so there aren’t as many people here to go to games.

I think this will go a long way in getting the casual fan excited enough to start going to games. I can’t wait to attend a few more myself.

07.09.11 at 8:21 am

Mveres

I, for one, and glad to have a Clevelander writing for a (somewhat?) major sports blog/website/thingy. I’m tired of all of the Indians bashing and doubt.

I mean, how many times does a team have to get to the post season and choke before they’re taken seriously.

That said, I love you Cleveland.

07.09.11 at 5:12 pm

Turd Ferguson

Cleveland’s not that bad of a city, there’s definitely some dope neighborhoods…other parts look like flashbacks from “The Terminator” though